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<p>GPAs and test scores are probably reasonable in estimating the ability range of the students as a group, although they can frequently be inaccurate for individual cases (e.g. a good student who does poorly on multiple choice tests and is thus underrated, or a student with a 4.0 GPA from a grade-inflated high school and high test scores due to extensive test-specific coaching that is not very applicable to college work and is thus overrated.).</p>
<p>But, regardless of how one measures, would most people agree that the width or narrowness of the range can be important when selecting a school? One implication would be that a student whose ability is away from the median at a particular school (perhaps a “reach” or “safety” school?) may fit in better at a “wide” school than at a “narrow” school.</p>